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    Azerbaijan dismisses claims of involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

    Elite Purges: Internal Conflict or External Design?

    Trump’s Threat of U.S. Intervention in Iran Exposes Roots of Critics’ Fears

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    A Century of Diplomatic Relations Between Albania and Russia: Exclusive Interview with the Russian Ambassador to Albania, H.E. Alexey Zaytsev

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    The first anniversary of the appointment as Archbishop at the head of the Catholic Church/ Mons. Arjan Dodaj: Only God can be the author of our walk!

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    A top phone call as disappointment! Exit from Brexit! Germany at the helm! End this political shame up!

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    Top Ukrainian delegation arrives in Paris for talks with Western officials

    Marta Kos: Albania Making Rapid Progress Toward EU Integration

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  • Home
  • OP/ED

    Azerbaijan dismisses claims of involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

    Elite Purges: Internal Conflict or External Design?

    Trump’s Threat of U.S. Intervention in Iran Exposes Roots of Critics’ Fears

    Crisis-Born, Purpose-Seeking: Can the EPC Define Europe’s Strategic Future?

    Serbia’s Request to the ICJ Turned Resolution 1244 into a Closed Chapter and Kosovo’s Independence into an Internationally Recognized Reality

    Unpredictable world

    Promoting Arab Culture and Language in the Framework of Cultural Diversity and Dialogue.

    ‘A Tragic Circus’: Albanian PD Figures Lash Out After LaCivita-Backed Campaign Collapses

    Erosion of Liberal Democracy in Europe Complicates Canada’s Search for Like-Minded Allies

  • Interview

    Exclusive: “Even After Tito – Tito”/ Ambassador Zlatko Kramarić on Authoritarian Legacies and Democracy’s Future in the Balkans

    The Conclusion of the Diplomatic Mission / Ambassador Dancho Markovski: Strengthening Albania-North Macedonia Relations for a Shared European Future

    A Century of Diplomatic Relations Between Albania and Russia: Exclusive Interview with the Russian Ambassador to Albania, H.E. Alexey Zaytsev

    Exclusive/ The chairman of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta: “The will of the citizens will triumph in Albania, as it did in North Macedonia”

    Exclusive/ The Russian Ambassador to Albania Mr. Mikhail Afanasiev: Russia only aims to end that war started by the West in Ukraine

    Exclusive/ Skopje’s top diplomat to Tirana, Dancho Markovski: OSCE Chairmanship a Project of National Importance for North Macedonia

    Exclusive interview of Croatian Ambassador Zlatko Kramaric: ‘There is progress in Croatian-Albanian relations, but it is still not enough’  

    The first anniversary of the appointment as Archbishop at the head of the Catholic Church/ Mons. Arjan Dodaj: Only God can be the author of our walk!

    Azerbaijan’s Ambassador Anar Huseynov: President Aliyev’s visit to Albania opened a new page in our relations through the specific accords reached

  • Realpolitik

    Summit G 6+1! The historic Summit and Trump show! Zelensky loses 0:2! Winners and losers of the 12 day war!

    Chancellor Merz passed “the exam”! Political stupidity! 5 per cent or study Russian! The Firing East!      

    A top phone call as disappointment! Exit from Brexit! Germany at the helm! End this political shame up!

    That’s it! The quartet of hope! Shame on Kosovo! The Summit of a Community without Identity!

    Only praises and prolises for Meloni! Facts versus untruths! Immediate ceasefire and genuine peace, no deal for new occupation! Back after 60 years !

    US nuclear tariff bomb!! Europa fires back! NATO ok, but with or without Article 5? Kallas urges reforms!

    Europe riarmed! Germany’s epochal shift! Spoiled soup! EU Commissioner Kos demands reforms!

    Europe tightens the ranks! The Euro-Atlantic Alliance in danger! USA-1945!! A true Peace, not new occupation!

    WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.  Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    The law of force over the force of law! Multilateral diplomacy is the victim! Euro-Atlantism in danger! Munchen split the West!

  • Current Events

    Why Iran with Nukes is a Danger – Just Look at Cuba in 1962

    When bridges divide more than rivers…

    Skopje Growth Plan Summit: Western Balkans Six Urged to Accelerate Reforms

    Summit G 6+1! The historic Summit and Trump show! Zelensky loses 0:2! Winners and losers of the 12 day war!

    The NATO Summit in 2027 will be held in Tirana.

    Exclusive: “Even After Tito – Tito”/ Ambassador Zlatko Kramarić on Authoritarian Legacies and Democracy’s Future in the Balkans

    Geneva meeting begins in bid to halt escalating Israel-Iran conflict

    From Donetsk to Northern Kosovo: Geopolitical Games with the Kosovo Precedent

    G7 leaders fail to reach ambitious joint agreements on key issues after Trump’s exit

  • Top News

    The NATO Summit in 2027 will be held in Tirana.

    NATO allies agree to allocate 5% of GDP to defense by 2035

    Reza Pahlavi: “This Is Our Berlin Wall Moment” — Exiled Prince Calls for Global Support as Iran Nears Regime Collapse

    Where does Donald Trump stand on the Israel-Iran conflict?

    Russia Proposes Second Round of Ukraine Peace Talks in Istanbul on June 2

    International leaders congratulate Prime Minister Rama after his victory in the parliamentary elections, securing a fourth term.

    Albania’s parliamentary elections competitive and well run but lacked level playing field, international observers say

    Top Ukrainian delegation arrives in Paris for talks with Western officials

    Marta Kos: Albania Making Rapid Progress Toward EU Integration

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Home ENGLISH

Massacre Relived: Book Sheds New Light on a Kosovo Atrocity

1 August, 2020
in ENGLISH, English OP/ED
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A new book tells the stories of the survivors of the massacre in Krusha e Vogël/Mala Krusha on March 26, 1999 – when Serbian forces shot and burned the bodies of some 113 people

By Serbeze Haxhiaj

PRISTINA – “Brains have roots,” Qamil Shehu said, recalling the moment when he last saw his two sons before Serbian forces in Kosovo set the house on fire, killing them and over 100 other people from the village. “They groaned and sobbed from the pain and asked for help. But screams sound like whispers,” he added.
“I raised my head and saw my sons Shani and Veli among the bodies. I stood up among the dead. I wanted to die from bullets, not be burned alive. Then I kissed the forehead of my sons and escaped through the window. I set off towards the creek and started to walk up the hill, not knowing where to go. When I regained consciousness it was morning and I was in a forest.”
This is a quotation from Shehu – who has since died – in a recently published book in English entitled “A Village Slain”, co-authored by Agron Limani and the journalist Qemail Krasniqi – a powerful chronicle of murder, burnings and trauma.
It retells the stories of the people who lost their loved ones in the massacre carried out in the village of Krusha e Vogël/Mala Krusha, in Prizren municipality, one of the most notorious crimes Serbian forces committed in the war in Kosovo of the late-1990s.
The massacre – a shocking act of revenge – took place at noon on March 26, 1999, two days after NATO launched airstrikes against Serbian forces, operating under the ultimate command of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Shehu and 118 other men and boys, his two sons included, were separated from their families and placed in a small house in the village. They were then shot and the house set on fire.
Co-authors Limani and Krasniqi follow the victims’ stories from the past to the present, over the two decades that have elapsed since the armed conflict ended with Serbia’s enforced withdrawal.
“From the beginning to its end, this book is a tale of cruelty, slaughter and impunity. It contains no heroes, only victims and executioners,” Limani told BIRN.
The book contains 55 interviews with survivors and family members of the victims. Some of them have since passed away, including two of the six survivors.
“We worked for more eight years on this book, collecting evidence and interviewing survivors and family members. The book is a memory of an atrocity that happened as well as of the silence and impunity surrounding it,” Limani said.
Parts of the evidence collected about the massacre was previously handed over to prosecutors from the UN and EU missions. Some of it became part of the indictment issued against Darko Tasic, a Serbian resident of the village. Last month he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the massacre.
“One person was convicted but there has been no justice. There are still 68 missing people for whom the trial failed to provide any information,” said Limani – whose own father, brother and two uncles perished in the massacre.
Limani, who now heads the “26 March” Association for Research of the Kidnapped and Missing People, said the book also contains evidence about the significant role local Serbs played in the massacre. “Some of them took part in the massacre and then helped with the disappearance of the bodies,” Limani asserted.
The massacre is among the worst massacres in the entire Kosovo conflict where most of the victims are still missing.
Limani and Krasniqi portray the bitter tragedy that families in Krusha e Vogel experienced during the war and the effects of the conflict on their later lives and feelings.
It highlights the painful memories of the survivors, some of whom died without ever getting a chance to tell their story to a prosecutor or to a court.
The youngest survivor or victim, Mursel Hajdari, was 12 years old when he was taken from the hands of his mother. The oldest victim was 89.
Mursel’s mother, Nexhmije, who died in 2019, recalled in the book the moment when Mursel asked: “Mum, am I old enough to go with the men?”
Among the few things left from the eight members of the Hajdari family who died in the massacre is Sahit Hajdari’s wheelchair. A disabled man of 40, he was also thrown into the house of execution.
As the flames spread throughout two rooms and the corridor where the victims were gathered, Qamil Shehu and the other survivors recalled that as they planned to get away, they saw Sahit had been killed; his head hung over his wheelchair. His remains are also missing.
Limani says the information they have gathered shows that the massacre was indeed planned, as part of a so-called Operation “Horseshoe”, which aimed to expel ethnic Albanians and ethnically cleanse the land of Kosovo.
“It is very clear that there was a deliberate, organised effort to ethnically cleanse the territory because such a massive massacre could not be implemented without planning and preparation,” Limani said.
“Apart from providing evidence, this book is a voice for those who died over the years without having an opportunity to shed light on what happened on that tragic day in the village,” Krasniqi said.
He said that while justice has been denied, vengeful feelings remain fresh among many relatives of the victims.
“While the culture of atrocity denial continues, and aims to blur the truth, efforts to normalize relations and for reconciliation can never succeed,” he concluded. /BIRN, July 31,2020

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